FACTORS INFLUENCING RESEARCH ACTIVITY OF NURSES AND THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS RESEARCH.
Contributors: Boston College.
Published: 1984
Number of pages: 175
Subjects: Education, Higher.
Description: This study examined the relationship of certain factors to nurses' research activity and their attitudes toward research. Specifically, these factors were: personality attributes; position in nursing; demographic variables; knowledge of statistics; research study; family life and fate (defined as the way one filters and processes information).

Research activity was measured by whether a nurse published a research project and/or presented a project at a formal national, regional or local conference. Continued research activity was determined by counting the number of research projects.

Participants were randomly chosen from ANA's Council of Nurse Researchers and/or Sigma Theta Tau. A mailed instrument consisting of the Attitude Toward Research Index, the Gough Adjective Check List, Harvey's Conceptual Systems Test, and researcher made questions entitled All About You was used for data collection. A sample of 513 nurses responded.

Results indicated differences in personality traits existed among research/non-research nurses. Also, nurse researchers operated at an abstract level of functioning whereas non-researchers were more concrete. Although researchers had a more favorable attitude toward the importance of research, both groups found the usefulness of research to be equally important. Non-research nurses had a more favorable attitude toward the unbiased nature of research.

Position in nursing did not influence attitudes toward research; yet, position was related to research activity. Age, geographic area and educational level influenced attitudes toward the importance of research while age was the only predictor for the unbiased nature of research. None of the demographic variables influenced attitudes toward the usefulness of research. Age, geographic area, marital status and educational level were the only variables related to research activity. Knowledge of statistics and research study were slightly predictive of attitudes toward research whereas both these variables plus family life and fate correlated somewhat with research activity.

These findings suggest a need for further study of why nurses become interested in research or more importantly, why nurses lose interest in research after completing a major project. The results could also serve as a basis of evaluation for redefining the approach to educational exposure to the research process.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 45-05, Section: A, page: 1311.

Thesis (PH.D.)--BOSTON COLLEGE, 1984.

School code: 0016.